Kejriwal, Sisodia seek votes for AAP after laying foundation stone for 11,000 classrooms

New Delhi, Jan 28 (IANS) Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia on Monday laid the foundation of building 11,000 new classrooms for Delhi's government schools and used the event to seek votes for their Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Lok Sabha battle.

Addressing the children and parents at the Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya at New Friends Colony after laying the foundation, both leaders asked the parents to choose whom they love more: Prime Minister Narendra Modi or their children.

"If you love your children, vote for those who are working for your children and if you don't love your children then go and vote for Modiji. Modiji has not built even a single classroom or a school. You have to choose between love for nation or love for Modi," Kejriwal added.

His deputy Sisodia also asked the students to thank their parents as they voted for AAP. "If the parents had not voted for AAP (in 2015), how could the party had worked for you and Delhi?"

He also thanked the parents for voting AAP.

"Outside the schools, there is an atmosphere in the country where people are doing politics of temple and mosque. But the Delhi government is doing politics of building schools and education.

"I asked someone who he will vote for. He said he will vote for Modi. On being asked why he said he likes and love Modiji. I said if you really love your children, vote for those who are building schools for them," said Sisodia, also the Education Minister.

Addressing the students, he added: "Go home and ask your parents if they love you or not. If they say they love you, ask them to vote for those who are building schools."

The Delhi government started the construction of these 11,000 new classrooms in the national capital from Monday and is aiming to complete the work by the year-end.

Delhi PWD Minister Satyendar Jain, who was present at the event, said: "Delhi alone is going to build 11,000 classrooms this year and the number is more than the classrooms built by all the state governments and the Central government."

Kejriwal, speaking about the work done by his government, said in four years they gave a total of 21,000 classrooms to Delhi's schools.

"Currently, there are 1,100 schools in Delhi with about 24,000 classrooms. Now 21,000 more classrooms will be built, so we can say 1,000 new schools are going to be built in the national capital," he added.

"Since Independence, only 1,100 schools with 24,000 classrooms were built in Delhi, while in the last four years, the AAP government constructed 21,000 classrooms or 1,000 schools," the Chief Minister said.

Kejriwal, in his address, also attacked the Central government for restricting the work done by the Delhi government.

"Sisodia and I had planned about building the (11,000) classrooms in the second year (after we came to power in 2015) but the Central government took away all our files... Again and again, they stopped us from working for Delhi. Still, we were able to construct the classrooms.

"I want to make a request to you all. Last time you voted for us and gave us 67 seats out of 70 (in Delhi Assembly). But you gave all the seven MP (seats) to BJP... If all the MPs are from our party, we can do more work and with more speed. Right now our work is being restricted." said Kejriwal, who also heads the AAP.

Echoing the sentiments, Sisodia said: "People say politics and education should be separated. I want to tell you when the two were separated, you have seen the condition of schools. Now when the two are joined, we can see the reform.

"If you want to continue the reforms, it is important to support Kejriwal and give him more strength. I fear if we are not here or lose power, someone else will come in power and will use this building for marriages and not education," he added.